Memorial Service To Honor Fallen Officers Wednesday Evening

SUMMARY: A memorial service and candlelight
vigil will honor local law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate
sacrifice.

All fallen
law enforcement officers from Collier County will be honored by the county’s
three law enforcement agencies – Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Naples Police
Department and Marco Island Police Department - during the nighttime vigil.

The
public is invited to attend.

Collier
County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk will deliver the welcome as well as the memorial
address and closing remarks. Sheriff Rambosk will be joined by Naples Chief of
Police Tom Weschler and Marco Island Chief of Police Don Hunter in the lighting
of the vigil candles in memory of the fallen officers.

While the
Harp and Thistle Pipe Band performs “Amazing Grace,” family members of fallen
officers will be invited to light a candle and place flowers on the table in
honor of their loved one. Chief Weschler will assist.

Collier
County Sheriff’s Office Victim Services Supervisor Angela Larson is the
scheduled guest speaker. Angela Larson is the sister of fallen officer Michael
W. Larson, a 10-year veteran of the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia.
Officer Larson was killed in the line of duty on Dec. 10, 2006. Officer Larson
was responding to assist a fellow officer when his patrol car sideswiped a
disabled vehicle left in the oncoming lane of traffic. His vehicle struck a
tree line and he was killed.

Chief Hunter
will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Chaplain Vann Ellison will give the
Invocation.

Cpl. Sylee
Gibson will sing the National Anthem. Sarah Hardwig, an 11-year-old blind girl
from Naples and aspiring country singer, will perform a musical tribute. Sarah,
a fifth-grader at Calusa Park Elementary School, has performed the national
anthem several times, plus musicals and operas.

The service
will also feature the presentation of colors by the CCSO, NPD and MIPD Honor
Guard, a last radio call by the CCSO Communications Bureau, and taps by the
CCSO Honor Guard.

The service
is one of many commemorative events taking place throughout the country during
National Law Enforcement Memorial Week May 2014.

Communities
across the U.S. will come together May 11-17 to honor and remember those law
enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as the family
members, friends and fellow officers they left behind.

On
average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in
the United States every 58 hours. Since the first known line-of-duty death in
1791, more than 20,000 U.S. law enforcement officers have made the ultimate
sacrifice, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund
website.

Each May new
names are added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial walls.

The
Unveiling Day ceremony is an event conducted each spring to symbolically commemorate the service and
sacrifice of all of the men and women who have given their lives for the safety
and protection of others, the website states.